Ansari Arya, Purtell Kelly, Gershoff Elizabeth
Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin
Department of Human Sciences, The Ohio State University.
Psychol Sci. 2016 Jan;27(1):53-63. doi: 10.1177/0956797615610882. Epub 2015 Nov 13.
The federal Head Start program, designed to improve the school readiness of children from low-income families, often serves 3- and 4-year-olds in the same classrooms. Given the developmental differences between 3- and 4-year-olds, it is unknown whether educating them together in the same classrooms benefits one group, both, or neither. Using data from the Family and Child Experiences Survey 2009 cohort, this study used a peer-effects framework to examine the associations between mixed-age classrooms and the school readiness of a nationally representative sample of newly enrolled 3-year-olds (n = 1,644) and 4-year-olds (n = 1,185) in the Head Start program. Results revealed that 4-year-olds displayed fewer gains in academic skills during the preschool year when they were enrolled in classrooms with more 3-year-olds; effect sizes corresponded to 4 to 5 months of academic development. In contrast, classroom age composition was not consistently associated with 3-year-olds' school readiness.
联邦启蒙计划旨在提高低收入家庭儿童的入学准备程度，通常在同一间教室里为3岁和4岁的儿童提供服务。鉴于3岁和4岁儿童在发育上存在差异，尚不清楚在同一间教室一起接受教育对其中一组、两组都有益，还是都没有益处。本研究利用2009年家庭与儿童经历调查队列的数据，采用同伴效应框架，对启蒙计划中全国代表性样本的新入学3岁儿童（n = 1644）和4岁儿童（n = 1185）在混合年龄教室与入学准备之间的关联进行了研究。结果显示，4岁儿童在学前教育阶段与更多3岁儿童同处一间教室时，学业技能提升较少；效应大小相当于4至5个月的学业发展。相比之下，教室的年龄构成与3岁儿童的入学准备之间没有始终如一的关联。
